Keyword at homepage

[juanmiguelcr]

Hi there! Is it true that the most relevant keyword should it be located in the home page of a website since it has the most link-juice or this statement is a "myth"?

Thanks

[juanmiguelcr]

Thanks Mark.

[Mark_Ginsberg]

It really depends on the site - often a website will have the most links pointing to the homepage, so this is usually the strongest page. Thus, it may be easiest to rank your homepage for your primary keyword. On the other hand, if the most important keyword is a commercial term that will lead to higher conversions/sales from an inner page, like a product page, then don't forsake those higher conversions for the link benefits of the home page.

In addition, if you're going to be aggressively link building for your target term, if your inner page gets hit with a penalty, you can always 404 the page, remove the links, and start over. This is much harder to do when the overoptimized, penalized page is the homepage. So from that perspective, it may pay to optimize an inner page for your target keywords and not your homepage.

Your homepage often serves as the front page for your business - as such, it has to cater to multiple audiences, and often multiple parties who all are fighting for space on the homepage. When I worked at a not for profit museum, there were lots of different involved parties vying for space on the homepage. Thus, it may make more sense to target your primary keywords to inner pages where you can completely control your content and onsite setup.

Thus, while often it makes sense to target your most important terms to the homepage, it really depends on the site and the individual circumstances, and I wouldn't recommend targeting your homepage with your most important keywords as a blanket rule for all cases.

Good luck,

Mark